The women's gymnastics team will start its season at 7 tomorrow night in Pittsburgh with several fresh faces.

Coach Judi Avener plans to use all four of the freshman and both of the returning gymnasts extensively. The events will be split evenly between underclassmen and upperclassmen.

Although the team returns all but one of its gymnasts from last year, the freshmen will be in the spotlight. But competing against a Pitt squad which is not a powerhouse and opening the season away from Rec Hall may reduce some of the pressure.

"I'm really nervous," redshirt freshman Laurie Russo said. "I feel like I'm starting over again. I think we have a lot of talent this year. It's going to be hard to fight for our spots."

"I think we're fairly well prepared," Avener said. "We're not in as good as shape as we could be. I think we're in good shape given the circumstances. I'm much more concerned about the end of the season."

Pitt coach Debbie Yohman said "For the first time in a long time, we're ready to compete."

The Lady Panthers gave the Lady Lions tough competition last year; Penn State edged Pitt by only 1.25 points (182.30-181.05) at Rec Hall.

"I have no idea how Pitt is going to be, so anything could happen," Avener said, adding that since she is not using her strongest lineup, the team could lose.

"Our motivation for this meet is to beat Penn State. That is not our goal," Yohman said. "Our goal is to hit 24 out of 24 routines. There's a big difference between our goal and our motivation."

However, in 25 contests, the Lady Panthers have only defeated Penn State once.

They haven't beaten us in probably fifteen years," all-arounder Lynn Crane said. "But they've come close a couple of times, so we're not shoving them under the carpet or anything.

We're still going to be in there with all our tricks and everything."

Penn State's strength is its numbers. Crane, a junior, is the team's top all-arounder and finished 27th at last year's NCAAs. She holds the school record in the uneven bars (9.75).

Another junior, Kira Rohm, earned last year's NCAA Northeast Regional uneven bars title. Lisa Mallios, who sat out last season, and Kim Thrasher, a sophomore, share the team vault mark at 9.70.

Sophomore Jada Hiltabrand is out of the lineup indefinitely because of elbow surgery last fall.

Pitt lost one senior from last year and has nine letterwinners returning. In the all-around, Pitt will depend on two freshmen -- Karen Jorgensen and Kristen Brown. Tina Taylor is the Lady Panthers' top gymnast in the floor exercise. She holds the school record in the event with a 9.70.